This past weekend (Nov. 9-10), I presented research on the CIR at a UN workshop, Random Assemblies in Constitution Making Processes. This was co-sponsored by the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. It was exciting to see the level of interest in using a CIR process to improve the judgment voters might exercise when voting on constitutional referenda. The CIR is just...

This year, there is no statewide Oregon CIR, but there are a few experiments happening. Portland already hosted a CIR August 23-26 on a Housing bond measure on the ballot for the Portland metro area. Massachusetts CIR is holding a second pilot test of the process September 12-15 on Question 1, which concerns the maximum number of patients a nurse must attend to at a given time. A CIR test in California will take place Sept 27-30 on Proposition...

There will be two Citizens’ Initiative Reviews this year. In Oregon, a regional CIR is being run by Healthy Democracy, in partnership with Portland State University, Oregon Kitchen Table, and/or the University of Oregon Journalism School. That CIR will study an affordable housing bond measure referred to voters by the Metro Council–the regional government around Portland. It’ll happen August 23-26, and if anyone is interested...

South Dakota’s legislature is considering establishing a Citizens’ Initiative Review Commission, but the name is possibly the only family resemblance to the CIR process created in Oregon. House Bill 1007 explains that “the Citizen Initiative Review Commission shall be composed of eleven members appointed by the State Board of Elections.” That includes former and current legislators, with Commission members serving four...